Sometimes event venues are hard to find, gates and doors are locked, etc. This can at least be very inconvenient for participants, people might even just go back home.

We are usually trying to improve this by adding precise instructions how to get there to event descriptions and sometimes even put up signs. Still, participants might not have the description handy when on their way or the sign points to a door that is locked.

Usually in these cases people try to get in touch via meetup.com comments and that has worked in the past but you need to log in to meetup.com for that and notifications for organizers might be unreliable.

##Goal

Come up with a way to get in touch with an organizer that

is as accessible as possible

no account for some 3rd-party service necessary

no installation necessary

is easy to read and understand from a sign/piece of paper fixed to a wall

allows direct “real-time” (with feedback) communication

Proposal

Use a Gitter channel per venue. Organizers can just join that channel while their event is going on and set up notifications.

To work around the problem that the participant would need an account we could set up a web app with a simple chat form using a pre-configured Gitter user to post to the chat room. The link to this app could be printed on the signs (shortened URL and QR code might help).

The only requirement for the participant would be to access the web (via their smart phone).

We could provide one instance of the app per venue and share it for all events in one venue.

Alternatives

Phone number

Although calling a phone number (or texting) might involve fees this would be most accessible and easy to understand.

Unfortunately it is not easy to use one phone number with multiple people (all organizers) in a flexible way.

Using the private phone number of one organizer might be a privacy/spam issue. Additionally the phone number would have to be changed depending on the organizer being at the event.

Unfortunately it is not easy to use one phone number with multiple people (all organizers) in a flexible way.

I think @andreas once had a small heroku app, that you could just go to, then put in your (current) phone number and it would then redirect calls to a specific (always the same) number to that number given. Or short: we could print and post always the same number and remind organisers to put in their number at the start of the event to receive calls – without having to post their own, private numbers.